News and views from Secular Society and its members, with comments on other events of wider interest to secularists. Views expressed here are those of the authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the society unless this is expressly stated. We also have a quarterly (almost) journal - the Leicester Secularist.

18 August 2016

Safe Space v Freedom of Expression

The Society had two
related talks in July. The first, where we once again welcomed Maryam
Namizie to the Hall on Sunday 17th July 2016, was entitled “Apostasy,
Blasphemy and Resistance to Islam” and provided an update on her
campaigning for Iran Solidarity, One Law for All and the Council of
Ex-Muslims of Britain. The second was given by Robbie Travers, a
20-year-old law student and commentator for the Gatestone Institute
(a non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council and
think tank, dedicated to educating the public about what the
mainstream media fails to report in promoting human rights and in
particular freedom of expression). Both speakers highlighted the
current threats to freedom of expression in the UK.

Maryam has been
experiencing limitations being placed on her freedom to set out her
point of view with the recent advocacy for “safe spaces” at
universities. She expressed concern that particularly in some
universities many “liberals” and “socialists” now seem to
regard anything that might be derogatory about religion, in
particular Islam, as unacceptable. She has been labelled as a “race
traitor” and “Islamaphobe”.

In December 2015 she
gave a talk about blasphemy at the Goldsmiths University in London,
sponsored by the university's Atheist, Secularist and Humanist
society. During her talk, members of the university's Islamic Society
caused a disruption by heckling, switching off her presentation and
behaving in an intimidatory way. In response to the incident, the
university's Feminist Society released a statement expressing support
for the Islamic Society, and condemning the Atheist, Secularist and
Humanist Society for inviting "known islamophobes" to
speak at the university.

Maryam emphasised
that while the beliefs of individuals must be protected, organised
religions were often ideologies that could result in fascist
societies if allowed to take power, and must be open to criticism and
mockery. She was adamant that religions must accept that apostasy and
blasphemy are permitted behaviours and, while they may not be
welcome, must be tolerated.

Both Maryam and
Robbie emphasised the need for Muslims to be able to challenge the
ultra orthodox conservative interpretations of Islam and that those
who supported progressive political views needed to support groups
such as One Law for All, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and
British Muslims for Secular Democracy. However both highlighted the
fact that people they might normally have regarded as “Progressive”
and of the “Left” more often supported Islamists, who advocate
death for apostasy, adultery and homosexuality, rather than oppose
them.

Robbie highlighted
that this was a problem particularly with the younger generation and
was particularly well demonstrated by the concept of “safe space”.
The term was originally introduced to indicate that a teacher,
educational institution or student body does not tolerate anti-LGBT
violence, harassment or hate speech, thereby creating a safe place
for all LGBT students. However this became extended to refer to the
protection of any individuals who felt marginalized on a university
campus from being exposed to views that they would find upsetting.
Such a rule makes robust free expression impossible.

Some students
involved in political discourse now refuse to listen to or engage
with people of opposing points of view on the basis that it violates
their entitlement to “safe space”. Some also argue that only LGBT
people can be regarded as qualified to discuss LGBT issues and only
“black” people are qualified to discuss racism etc. Robbie
believes that such ideas lead to “group think” and stereotyping.

Robbie put forward
the hypothesis that young people are rebelling against the equalities
and human rights agendas pursued by the post war generation. Instead
they are advocating rights for groups that they feel have been
discriminated against in the past. This means that not all groups
(and hence people) have the same rights. He highlighted the issue of
female genital mutilation (FGM). This was now being labelled as
female genital circumcision and regarded as a norm for some Islamic
groups. As such some of these “avant garde” groups maintain that
it should be regarded as acceptable. Hence one young lady, who had
suffered FGM and opposed the practice, was told to shut up and
branded a “race traitor” by a group of student “feminists”.

It was suggested
that the current student generation has grown up in an era when there
was no longer a folk memory of the horrors of the World Wars. Many
students no longer appreciate how essential it is to avoid
stereotyping and that everyone must be entitled to their human rights
as individuals, together with equality before the law. Robbie
suggested that the older generation, including our membership, needed
to try and engage with the younger generation through social media,
even if they felt uncomfortable with it, as advocates for liberty and
human rights.